Tag Archives: dan starkey

CD Review – ‘The Last Days of the Powell Estate’ (Doctor Who)

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s the last Big Finish audio review for this week to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’. What better way to finish it off than by checking out the second audio adventure starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler in ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish. It’s time for ‘The Last Days of the Powell Estate’ by Timothy X Atack. Hopefully, I’ll be back to check out more Ninth Doctor and Rose audio stories as well as more Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz audio stories in the New Year, once I’ve sorted out my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ reviews for this year as well as upcoming in-depth reviews on Series 14 and 15 of the new TV series with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. Continue reading

Week 54 – ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ UPDATED

–UPDATED REVIEW ON AUDIO STORY TODAY–

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Happy New Year everyone! Once again, I had in mind to check out and review the ‘Doctor Who’ book called ‘Doctor Who in Wonderland’ by Paul Magrs, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough. Sadly, I’ve been very busy these past few months and haven’t been able to put together all the Nyssa stories I wanted to review for the 2024-25 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track later in 2025 with putting together brand-new reviews on the latest ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring Nyssa, including the ‘Doctor Who in Wonderland’ book, which I’m looking forward to reading. Continue reading

Novelization/Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who – The Giggle’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to round off our look into the Target novelizations/audiobooks of the 60th anniversary TV specials of ‘Doctor Who’ by checking out the third instalment called ‘The Giggle’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor, Donna Noble, Melanie Bush, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, U.N.I.T., the Toymaker and of course the introduction of the Fifteenth Doctor. The novelization is by James Goss, based on the TV script by Russell T. Davies, and the audiobook is read by Dan Starkey, well-known for playing the Sontarans in the TV series and the Big Finish audios. Continue reading

Novelization/Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who – The Romans’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Just in case you missed it today, I’ve updated my review on the Target novelization/audiobook of the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Romans’ by Donald Cotton. This story features the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki, as they visit Italy in 64 A.D. where Emperor Nero reigns in Rome. The 2023 audiobook for ‘Doctor Who – The Romans’ is read by seven narrators – Tim Treloar, Jamie Glover, Dan Starkey, Clare Corbett, Jon Culshaw, Maureen O’Brien and Louise Jameson. Was revisiting ‘The Romans’ Target novelization with its audiobook well-worth it for me? Continue reading

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #4

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for one of my favourite stories out of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series as well as my favourite story from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era. Today, we’re taking a look at ‘The Romans’, a four-part historical adventure where our heroes – William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – get to visit Italy in 64 A.D. They start in a Roman villa in Assisium before ending up in Rome where the fifth Emperor – Derek Francis as Caesar Nero – reigns. This is a ‘Doctor Who’ historical adventure that is injected with a lot of comedy by the story’s writer Dennis Spooner, who’s also the script editor on Season 2. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Flux’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on Series 13 – Jodie Whittaker’s third and final season as the Thirteenth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. This is a six-part story called ‘Flux’, mainly written by Chris Chibnall. The six episodes of the story include ‘The Halloween Apocalypse’, ‘War of the Sontarans’, ‘Once, Upon Time’, ‘Village of the Angels’ (co-written by Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton), ‘Survivors of the Flux’ and ‘The Vanquishers’. ‘Flux’ stars Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor and Mandip Gill as Yaz, and they’re joined by John Bishop as Dan. There are special guest stars like Craige Els as Karvanista, Steve Oram as Joseph Williamson, Nadia Albina as Diane, Sam Spruell as Swarm, Rochenda Sandall as Azure, Jacob Anderson as Vinder, Thaddea Graham as Bel, Annabel Scholey as Claire, Jonathan Watson and Dan Starkey as the Sontarans, Sara Powell as Mary Seacole, Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor, Craig Parkinson as the Grand Serpent, Bhavnisha Parmar as Sonya, Barbara Flynn as Tecteun, Kevin McNally as Professor Jericho, Vincent Brimble as Gerald, Jemma Churchill as Jean, Blake Harrison as Namaca, Robert Bathurst as Farquhar and Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart. ‘Flux’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

Tim Bradley’s Convention Memories and Reports – 2010-2023

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

To celebrate Sarah Sutton’s birthday today, I’ve put together a list of all the conventions I’ve attended over the years from 2010 to 2023, which includes ‘Doctor Who’ conventions, multi-purpose conventions and a ‘Star Trek’ convention. You can check out my ‘convention memories’ blog posts and my convention reports by clicking on the images below. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Last Christmas’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to check out the first ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special in the new TV series to feature Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. It’s time for ‘Last Christmas’ by Steven Moffat. This ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special was shown on Christmas Day in December 2014. It also features Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald and there’s Nick Frost as Santa Claus, Father Christmas or however you want to call him. There’s a sort-of ‘Alien’ atmosphere about this ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special and there’s a lot of dreaming involved, especially when the Twelfth Doctor, Clara and a North Pole base crew are attacked by a number of Dream Crabs. As well as Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Nick Frost, there are Santa’s two elf helpers – Dan Starkey (well-known for playing the Sontarans on TV and on audio) as Ian and Nathan McMullen as Wolf. There’s the North Pole base crew, including Faye Marsay as Shona, Natalie Gumede as Ashley, Maureen Beattie as Bellows and Michael Troughton (one of Patrick Troughton’s sons) as Professor Albert Smithe. There’s also a special guest appearance of Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink. ‘Last Christmas’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Deep Breath’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for us to begin the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ and we’re starting off with the first episode of Series 8 in the new TV series called ‘Deep Breath’ by Steven Moffat. I saw this ‘Doctor Who’ episode on TV when I was on holiday in Scotland in August 2014. This episode was also released at cinemas. Joining Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor is Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, who is coming to terms with the newly regenerated Doctor. There’s the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Dan Starkey as Strax. There’s also the debut of Michelle Gomez as Missy at the end of the episode. Lately, I’ve seen a video clip of this episode on YouTube featuring a phone call conversation between Clara and a certain surprise character. There was a lot of hype surrounding Peter Capaldi’s arrival as the Twelfth Doctor, especially in the promotion that built up to Series 8 in 2014, including a World Tour. Is this reflected in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode? Is ‘Deep Breath’ a worthwhile ‘Doctor Who’ episode? ‘Deep Breath’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Time of the Doctor’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on the final adventure of the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. This is ‘The Time of the Doctor’, the 2013 Christmas Special by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. It’s the fourth Christmas Special to feature Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. The special also has Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, the Silence and plenty more monsters to finish off the Eleventh Doctor. There’s Orla Brady (who I’ve seen more recently in the ‘Star Trek: Picard’ series) as Tasha Lem, and there are guest stars like Sheila Reid (who was in ‘Vengeance on Varos’) as Clara’s Gran. Tessa Peake-Jones (well-known for being in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and she would go on to be in ‘Grantchester’) makes a small guest role in the special as Marta. There’s also a couple of guest cameos, including a past face and a new face in ‘Doctor Who’. 😀 Will this be a satisfying swansong of a ‘Doctor Who’ adventure for Matt Smith’s Doctor? Can a single Christmas Special conclude the Eleventh Doctor era entirely on a worthwhile note? ‘The Time of the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading